Gummy stem blight is a serious fungal disease that can lead to severe yield losses in Cucurbit crops. Weekly fungicide applications are used to control the disease in watermelon. Sources of resistance to the disease have been identified in watermelon wild crop relatives, however the complex inheritance of the resistance and the effect of environmental conditions on disease development have hindered breeding efforts. Scientists at the University of Georgia and Cornell University identified QTL associated with gummy stem blight and developed markers to aid in breeding gummy stem blight resistant watermelon cultivars.
Read the article:
- QTL associated with gummy stem blight resistance in watermelon
by: Winnie Gimode, Kan Bao, Zhangjun Fei & Cecilia McGregor
Theoretical and Applied Genetics
Published Nov 1, 2020
DOI: 10.1007/s00122-020-03715-9
